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Assistance in choosing intranet software

As expert independent consultants, we can be your trusted partner through the whole process.

 

Selecting the right intranet software

ClearBox can help you select the best-fit intranet for internal communication, collaboration, team working, and departmental autonomy – with or without Microsoft 365 or SharePoint

Much of the end-user experience of your intranet relies on appropriate navigation, search settings, information architecture, and the quality of the content; but ageing systems can frustrate even the best planned intranet revamps.

As your colleagues expect as much from the intranet as they do from the web and their personal apps, the choice of intranet software is crucial. Older content management systems just do not offer the functionality needed for the ever-changing, ever-improving organisation.

Three service options

Outside of our bespoke consultancy services, our intranet system selection services are nicely standardised so you’ll know exactly what you’ll get from us. But we won’t treat you like another cog in the machine; our people all have corporate intranet backgrounds and understand the challenges that have brought you to this point.

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The phases included ensure that everyone understands the problems before anyone imagines the solutions. Stakeholder interviews, process assessments, and user research usually form the backbone of the discovery service.

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If you've got solid research already, or have a clear understanding of the problems your organisation and your people face, we'll help you crystalise your intranet strategy through workshops to find what your stakeholders really value.

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If you already have your research results and a strong strategy, we can help you validate and prioritise your requirements so we can make solid recommendations.

  • Discovery service
    • £ Upon enquiry Project
      • Business research
      • Intranet strategy
      • Requirements identification
      • Vendor recommendations

    • Enquire
  • Express service
    • £ 30,000* Project
      • Intranet strategy
      • Requirements identification
      • Vendor recommendations

    • Enquire
  • Shortlisting service
    • £ 17,500* Project
      • Requirements identification
      • Vendor recommendations

    • Enquire

*typical price

Business research

  • Discovery phase only*
  • Employee, stakeholder, and business strategy research
  • User research: surveys, focus groups, interviews etc.

We have a large database of tested, relevant questions to support in-depth user research via surveys, focus groups, employee panels, and / or stakeholder interviews.

We share the results in a series of charts.

*While we will only conduct this level of research as part of the Discovery Service, we will of course use any research you’ve undertaken as part of the Express and Shortlisting Services.

Intranet strategy

  • Workshop to formalise the intranet strategy
  • Intranet strategy report (including findings, requirements, phases of development).

In the lead-up to the intranet strategy step we take you through our digital workplace framework as a foundation for the final strategy document.

During the intranet strategy step, the workshop delves into our findings so far and highlights the requirements that we have identified for your consideration.

The full report outlines our findings and records the associated recommendations. This report helps identify the requirements for your intranet as part of the next step.

Requirements identification

  • Workshop to define / review requirements
  • Questionnaire and meeting on non-functional requirements
  • A summary of prioritised requirements (around 25).

We will help you identify the functional and non-functional requirements for your new platform. We’ll also help you prioritise the ‘must haves’ so that we can find the perfect solution for you.

Vendor recommendations

  • Work through from a long list of potential vendors
  • Shortlist of 3 or 4 vendors that are a strong match to your needs
  • Expert guidance around pros and cons
  • Next steps and what topics to raise with vendors.

We analyse how well different intranet products meet the needs of your business, including standard SharePoint Online when relevant.

The full report details the positives and negatives of each option. We’ll present recommendations and reasoning to you and discuss your options. You can then decide on the best approach with confidence, and begin the RfP phase.

Not only SharePoint

When you pull together your business requirements, you’ll see that your intranet is about business value. An older intranet system or one that is no longer developed by your vendor, for example, just won’t deliver. Your intranet should be a business-critical system; let’s treat it as such.

ClearBox Consulting can help you review the extensive local and international marketplace, consider your hard requirements and your soft ‘nice to haves’, and guide you through your choices to create a shortlist that matches your culture and needs.

Your choice is not limited to SharePoint (even if someone in the IT department said it has to be SharePoint). Not only can SharePoint be enhanced by an in-a-box intranet product, but you could choose an independent intranet system that integrates well-enough with Microsoft 365. We will even consider SharePoint alone, without another product, if that’s what’s right for your business. It all depends on whether your focus is on collaboration or communication, and how your people prefer to go about both.

Download our 13-page guide

Graphic flowchart showing the steps that are listed on this page.

Take away this process flowchart along with the entire guide as a handy PDF.

How to choose Resource PDF

By downloading the PDF, you agree to be added to our mailing list. Our newsletters are full of links to digital workplace resources, and you can unsubscribe in one click if they’re not your cup of lapsang souchong. We will not share your details.

Rely on ClearBox’s years of research to help replace your intranet

Having focused on intranets since 2008, we’ve always had good relations with vendors, but we’ve earnestly attended to the global marketplace since 2016 when we began assessing and scoring individual intranet systems.

We regularly review intranet software for our reports, assessing each against specific real-world business scenarios. We know all the major systems and so we have a head start when it comes to requirements matching.

In addition, all our consultants have been in-house intranet managers and so ClearBox’s perspective is based in practice, not just theory. We understand the technology, but approach everything from the people-side first, and we speak your language.

Buyer’s guide to intranet and employee experience platforms

Tell us a little about your organisation and expectations, and we’ll email you today / tomorrow.

Intranet selection enquiry

Let’s talk

If we’ve made it seem easy, well, we mean to make it painless for you, but of course there’s a lot that goes into each step. Plus you’ll likely have some priority concerns and additional needs, so let’s have a chat and see what would really help you.

As expert independent consultants, we can be your trusted partner through the whole process.